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^ This.

I have yet to have an opponent hurt me with asteroid placement. Maybe this tactic would work?

^ This.

I have yet to have an opponent hurt me with asteroid placement. Maybe this tactic would work?

It's tricky either way. Condense them and we'll try around the edge in the space. Spread them out and you've probably made lanes or enough space have options.

A well flown Defender can work fast or slow. Sometimes it just requires more patience.

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I think you definitely want them to be inside the rocks. Even if you don't limit all their options, you will restrict at least some.

The defender which goes slow doesn't have the free action.

The defender which doesn't do k-turn spends less time on the target, or needs to switch his target.

In either case this is taking away a bit of the ships efficiency and power, so it's already a small victory on its own.

It's only a victory if it hurts you less that it hurts the Defender player. That's the real key.

1 bank, barrel roll... that's the hot ****.

Oh no, I've not got an evade token but seeing as I'm range 1 up your ass I can live with that. And I've got 6 hull/shield for a reason, after all. That people expect the 3s and 4s the whole time is precisely why the 1 bank (and even hard 1 with Vessery, as I pick up the TL anyway) is so **** good.

Absolutely. The hit points a Defender has are not just for backup when the token stack fails, they're for allowing you to plan on being hit to make sure you get a good shot. To quote myself from a post I wrote back in May:

Even with the squad point reduction from the x7 title, a 3 attack primary is not strong, especially not for something costing a third or more of your squad points. To make these ships perform the best they can, you’ll need to enhance that offense as much as possible. Consequently, I think you have to play them aggressively and use actions to enhance offense more often than defense. I think if you spend tokens and plan moves with the mindset of a conventional Imperial Ace, you’re going to have some almost undamaged ships that will have done very little damage in return. An x7 Defender is perfectly willing to be shot if it gets a good shot in return. It also is usually going to be content with accepting some damage to save its Focus to boost a good attacking opportunity.

Defenders like to work in lanes at 45/90 degree angles. Setting up rocks offset to create 22.5/67/5 degree lanes will cause them more problems. I've had to deploy my Defenders off-line a couple of times to defeat awkward rock placement.

X7s are crazy good jousters because the have 3 attack dice, backed up by 6 health, and a focus and evade every turn. The white 4 k turn is really good, but isn't needed every turn if doing a hard turn or bank gets you a better position.

A slow Defender is a Defender I can burn down or detoken before it fires.

X7s are crazy good jousters because the have 3 attack dice, backed up by 6 health, and a focus and evade every turn. The white 4 k turn is really good, but isn't needed every turn if doing a hard turn or bank gets you a better position.

There's a reason why Defenders were rarely seen before Vets. -2 points helps, but they are still pretty average without the free evade. It's not that slow banks are bad, it's that, as the other guy, I will never be upset if my opponent opts to forego his ships' #1 advantage over mine.

A slow Defender is a Defender I can burn down or detoken before it fires.

My experience (~40 games) has been that while the 4k is predictable, it's still usually the best maneuver. Unless it's Ryad, when 2 or 3 or 5 are all on the table and are all hilarious. Which is not to say that using banks after you've done like 15 k turns is a bad idea, or that it doesn't catch people by surprise in a decisive way, or that I haven't myself used it to secure victories. But so, so, so often...yeah, fine, you know I'm K-turning here. I don't care that you know, I'm going to win the trade if you want to joust it out, so by all means come at me.

My experience (~40 games) has been that while the 4k is predictable, it's still usually the best maneuver. Unless it's Ryad, when 2 or 3 or 5 are all on the table and are all hilarious. Which is not to say that using banks after you've done like 15 k turns is a bad idea, or that it doesn't catch people by surprise in a decisive way, or that I haven't myself used it to secure victories. But so, so, so often...yeah, fine, you know I'm K-turning here. I don't care that you know, I'm going to win the trade if you want to joust it out, so by all means come at me.

Slow moves can be useful but Defenders aren't particularly scary without the token stack

If an opponent 100% sells out on countering the 4k then yeah, the slow move is going to be great, but that's just bad flying.